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Well dreamers, the year is very nearly over. 2014 has been a pretty intense year for a lot of us, it seems, with ups and downs all over the place. As such, we wanted to end the year on a happy note, and we felt that our local vintage cinema – the Moreland Theater—would be the perfect venue.

And so, the Monday before New Years Eve, we got ourselves all glammed up, masquerade style, and headed over for the last photoshoot of the year. All things considered, it’s been a pretty good year for photoshoots, with carousels, abandoned train tracks, and gelato galore! We really kind of went above and beyond preparing for this one though….. one must go big for New Years, after all.

The Moreland Theater has been operating in Sellwood (or more accurately West Moreland) since the 1920’s, when it was also a venue for Vaudeville acts. The interior definitely reflects the era in which it opened, which is exactly why we wanted to take photos there! They also happen to be our neighbors, and you know we love to support our fellow local businesses.

To the right: Rae lounges in plum Floral Tights, which perfectly match her mask. To the left: Sabrina’s pairing of Mid-Length Petticoat and Fishnet Pantyhose is simple, yet simply glamorous.

In addition to treating ourselves to a fancy dress photoshoot, we wanted to treat all of our customers to something nice, too…. While we can’t really send you all bottles of champagne, for various reasons, we can offer you a sale! From now until 11:59 PM PST on January 2nd, you can get 20% off orders of $15 or more! Just enter the code, “Socky2015” when you go to check out!

Happy holidays dreamers! Things have been in full swing here at Sock Dreams HQ. We’ve been extra busy getting socks to their destined dreamers, whether they’ve been naughty or nice. All of that industriousness wont stop us from announcing this month’s Dreamer Dress Up winners however.

We saw various levels of bundling for our Snow Day theme. Some of you from warmer climates don’t need a whole lot to keep cozy in the winter. Others find it necessary to pile on the layers. Radlee was, without a doubt, our best bundler. She didn’t stop at layering a pair of M Stripes over some Long Cuffable Scrunchable socks. She also used another pair of Long Cuffable Scrunchables as a scarf and some Quad Marled Rib Knees as mittens.

Christina doesn’t see a lot of snow where she comes from. The nights can still get pretty cold once winter hits. When she cozys up on the couch after a long day, she keeps comfortable in a an over sized sweater and her favorite pair of Floral Tights.

While Summer Anne has seen more wind than snow in her home town, her OTK Tube Socks have been sufficient to keep her toasty. She particularly loves the jewel tone of this royal blue pair. The bright color helps banish some of the season’s dreariness. Besides, it matches her secret Santa gift perfectly!

Speaking of colors it is time to announce our next Dreamer Dress Up Theme. Since this one will take place in February, the theme will be Amethyst and Violet, for the gemstone and flower of the month. We want to see what you can create using Sock Dreams products in shades of purple.

And if purple socks isn’t enough to get you excited about entering the next competition, we’ve got two great reasons that you should. Starting now, everyone who sends in a valid entry will receive a personal, one time, 10% discount code. Not only that, but we are also upping our prizes! All three of our next winners will receive a $50 gift card!

Send your submissions to info@sockdreams.com. Make sure that your entry includes all of the following:

It is now late December, and as such our busy season is both thoroughly underway, and about to start winding down for “the Winter Lull”. The lull is really only about a week, during which people go into post-holiday hibernation mode, and can’t be roused to purchase socks until early January. In fact, there’s kind of a funny story having to do with the lull, but we’ll come back to that in a bit… for now we’re preparing to wrap up our Department Spotlight series with a piece on the head honchos here at Sock Dreams – the Officers Department.

From left to right: Kori, Mr. Natosi, Niq and Dara

The latest addition to the team (not that any of them are particularly recent additions) would be Dara, who started in 2006. Like all of our officers, Dara fills a variety of roles here, including managing our health insurance (THANK YOU), making our recycling system as efficient and waste-free as possible, and doing a whole lot of purchasing of socks – particularly our USA-madehouse brands. Most notably, she’s behind almost our entire line of Dreamer Socks (little known fact: the Dreamy Bamboo OTKs were originally designed for her wedding). Her favorite part of the job, though, is in true Sock Dreams fashion: the people! Not just her coworkers, but our fabulous customers as well, of course. We love to communicate with our customers, so never hesitate to contact us with questions, feedback, requests, or just silliness! When asked about her favorite socks, she confessed that she, like many long-time Dreamers, is somewhat torn between the past and the present. Her favorites are therefore tied between the O Dreamies in the long-discontinued Classic colorway, and the currently available Dreamer Tartan OTKs in navy with rust.

Kori started just the year before Dara, in 2005. She is now our CFO (because math is awesome), and works with the various other departments to help make the Big Decisions, as well as overseeing the PR and CS departments. Kori’s favorite part of the job is also the people, but specifically the people she works with – that’s a good thing since she hired most of us! The one thing that we have in common is that we’re all total weirdoes. I love these guys! She was a little afraid that her choice of favorite sock – the Extraordinarily Longer Harvest Rainbows—might be a little bit too predictable, so she defended her choice: First of all, ummm… GORGEOUS! And secondly, these longer Extraordinaries go all the way up my legs, past the squishier part of my thighs, so they actually stay up fairly well on their own. But even on more active days, they’re long enough that I can pair them with an Industrial Garter Belt for better sock security. Like Dara, Kori’s advice to the customers is to talk to us! Not just because we like to hear from you, but because we want to set your feet up with their perfect socks…. their sole mates, if you will.

Mr. Natosi is one of the original Dreamers (which is kind of like being an original vampire, only not). As such, he started around the year 2000. These days he oversees our shipping department, but in the beginning he was the shipping department. He takes well-deserved pride in his department, and their ability to compete with much larger companies in both expedience and accuracy. His favorite socks are either the Dalhgren line of alpaca blend socks for their sheer comfort and warmth, or the Graphic Stripe Midcalves from B. Ella, which he wore for their photo, as they’re more visually exciting. His favorite part of working at Sock Dreams is…. Working at Sock Dreams! There are awesome people, there are bacon and waffle days, and we have a wonderful boss… to whom he happens to be married.

Niq was instagramming her own version of this shot as she posed. Instagram is the one social media she still refuses to give up.

And speaking of that awesome boss, last but certainly not least is our founder, head photographer and president, Niq! You may also know her as Niqkita or Monique (when you grow up unable to decide on a name, why not have [at least] three?). As our founder she has been here since the beginning of time, or around the turn of the century to be more precise. In this photo she is seen wearing a pair of O Dreamies in the now-discontinued Antique yarn, but the title of “favorite sock” is split between these and their longer counterpart – the Super Dreamies. Her response for her favorite part of the job was so lovely that you’re going to have to read it in her own words: My favorite thing was completely unexpected in the beginning… I love making a difference in people’s lives, it’s a thing I never thought I could do with socks. From people who love wearing the many socks we offer to people who work for us, either directly or remotely… offering so much more than just a living, offering actual careers with benefits. Not only do I get to live my Dream, I get to see dozens of other people prosper as well simply because I Dreamed out loud and in full color. Pretty precious right? Thank you, Niq, for sharing your Dream with the rest of us!

Niq and Mr. Natosi modeling some long-discontinued stripey socks, way back in the day!

Now, I believe we promised you a special, extra story about The Lull…. as I mentioned earlier, Mr. Natosi and Niq are married, but they weren’t when they started working together (which actually happened prior to the inception of Sock Dreams) – that only came to pass in 2003. They wanted to get married on Halloween (who wouldn’t?), and even went so far as to fill out a marriage license…. and then Busy Season hit. This was long before they had any other employees. Business was so good that year that they didn’t have a chance to get married until it slowed down the day before Christmas Eve – the Lull! Their marriage license was now on the verge of expiring, so knowing it was a long shot, Niq called up the Wedding House. After explaining their situation and simplistic needs, they were able to squeeze in a last-minute wedding, and they got married on Christmas Eve!

Their feet (in the original E. G. Smith Bootsocks), moments before exchanging vows.

This has turned into quite the write-up, but if any department deserves a small essay dedicated to them, it’s the officers! We wish Niq and Mr. Natosi the happiest of anniversaries, as they head off to their annual vacation. As for the rest of you: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Habari Gani?, Joyous Solstice, Fabulous Festivus, and general Seasons Greetings! Whatever you may or may not celebrate, we thank you for taking part in our Dream!

Well dreamers, the international order dates we posted last month are slowly dwindling away, but there’s still plenty of time for all of our friends here in the USA to receive their socks (and winter stickers — just request one in an order note!) in time for the December holidays! Just check out this handy chart:

And while you’re wrapping up your holiday shopping (get it? Wrapping?) be sure to pop over to the Sock Journal for Brenna’s round up of all of the pertinent ordering information: gift notes, wishlists, measurements, last minute gifts cards — it’s all there! Professional Dreamers are standing by to fill your orders and answer your questions, so don’t hesitate to ask!

In our second edition of our Dreamer Dress Up competition we saw a lot of ingenuity in the way our dreamers took warm weather clothes and changed them into cold weather outfits with Sock Dreams socks and accessories. Here is a peak at our ten favorites, and what they had to say about their outfits.

These first two finalists were very nearly winners. We loved Jennifer’s bright colors during this sometimes drab season. Not only did she turn a summer party dress into a great fall outfit, but she kept a little hint of sunshine with her Extraordinary Radiant Rainbows. Lindsay’s autumn color choices were a big hit here at Sock Dreams. She kept warm in her spring mini dress with Signature Cotton Tights, O Dreamy Stockings (in a gorgeous color that we, unfortunately, no longer carry), and Harajuku Arm Warmers.

Our next set of finalists had fun with indoor shots. Han had this to say about her outfit, “I love layers and was laying around the house, desperately not wanting to put on outdoor clothes to go get food when the idea struck me: don’t change the leggings and tank you are wearing–just throw more stuff on top! This was the result.” She knocked it out of the park with Chevron Sleeves and Super Long Ribbed Leg Warmers. Alana was one of our first entries. She made her lace summer dress fall-ready with a long sleeved t-shirt and Long Cuffable Scrunchable Socks. We loved what Whitney had to say about her outfit. “From keeping cool *eating ice cream* to staying cozy *dressed like a sundae*! I bundled up with layered long sleeves & hopped into Sock Dreams’ Neapolitan Stripes to keep my legs cozy.”

Jessica was used to staying warm in Alabama, when a cold wet spell hit. She couldn’t walk her dog in her usual clothing. Her solution? Extraordinary Striped Thigh Highs. Megan says, “Sweet lolita pastels are more commonly associated with Spring, but I like to be able to wear my whole lolita wardrobe year round! ” She used our Blue Knees in Pink to coordinate and keep her legs from getting chilled.

All of our finalists received a 10% off coupon code, and our three winners each received a $30 gift code. If you want a chance to win make sure you enter next month’s competition. The theme is “Snow Day!” Show us how you bundle up for a wild winter. Click here for a complete set of rules and instructions on how to enter. And don’t forget to check out our Newsletter for more details about why we chose our top three. If you haven’t signed up for our Newsletter, now’s the perfect time to do it!

Curious about us?

Sock Dreams was born in Portland Oregon in the Fall of 2000. We at Sock Dreams are a unique & quirky bunch of individuals who value diversity as much as we value comfy socks and great customer service. Our customers come in many sizes, shapes, genders, etc... and so do we.